‘FEUD: Capote Vs. The Swan’ Episode 7 Paints a Poignant Picture of Death and Fractured Friendship

At the end of each FEUD: Capote Vs. The Swans episode, a disclaimer flashes on screen, inviting viewers back to reality: “While this story is inspired by actual events, certain characters, characterizations, incidents, locations, and dialogue were imagined or invented for purposes of dramatization.” For those swept up in the series’ lavish production and wardrobe, award-worthy performances, and compelling narrative, that can be an easily forgotten truth. But the penultimate episode leaves zero doubt that extensive creative liberties were taken, resulting in FEUD‘s most poignant installment yet.

Based on Laurence Leamer’s bestselling book, Capote’s Women: A True Story of Love, Betrayal, and a Swan Song for an Era, the second season of Ryan Murphy’s FEUD anthology chronicles a ruinous rift between Truman Capote (Tom Hollander) and high-society women Babe Paley (Naomi Watts), Slim Keith (Diane Lane), C.Z. Guest (Chloë Sevigny), and Lee Radziwill (Calista Flockhart).

After years of friendship, Truman betrays the group — known as “The Swans” — by publishing their intimate secrets in Esquire for all to read. FEUD gives viewers a glimpse at the fallout following the article, focusing in on Babe’s battle with cancer, Truman’s self-destructive spiral, and the broken bond between the two best friends.

Despite the bitter emotions, hateful words, and years of silence between Babe and Truman, FEUD portrays them as soulmates who were never quite whole again after they parted. Babe’s own granddaughter penned her disappointment in the series, accusing those involved in its creation of stealing and twisting her grandmother’s narrative, so it’s hard to know to what extent Babe and Truman’s estranged ruminations on each other ring true. But the beauty in Episode 7, “Beautiful Babe,” is born from possibility, not truth.

The episode opens in 1978 with Babe waking up to her daily routine. She reads the paper, applies a full face of makeup, gets dressed, puts on jewelry, and looks in the mirror, only to realize she’s losing her hair from chemo. She learns she has six months to live and breaks the news to her husband Bill (Treat Williams) who’s still in denial.

As Babe enters “the anger stage,” finally coming to terms with her grim reality, Watts delivers her best in-show performance yet, letting her character’s meticulously maintained composure crash, spewing brutal bottled-up emotions and fully reflecting on haunting regrets. During a final La Côte Basque lunch, Babe reveals she’s planning her own funeral and asks The Swans about Truman. “Sometimes I wish I just laughed it off when it came out, and he’d be sitting here with us,” she muses. “What if we accepted how little it matters in the end, which we will have to. But no, to accept his apology would be to surrender.”

The next time we see her, she’s stepping out of a car for a solo weekend getaway. She tours the grounds, journals by the fireplace, and reflects on her painful lifelong pursuit of perfection. After flashing back to a dinner table full of guests and spying a moth struggling to escape a lampshade, she awakes from her nightmare in bed, only to find Truman by her side. “Oh I’ve given up on holding grudges. All is forgiven,” he says, giving her a marvelous dress and reminiscing on memories behind her physical possessions. The two are glowing and giggling, reinvigorated by each other’s presence.Babe tells Truman they were meant to collide, become inextricably linked, and forgive their sins in the end.

Truman leads her to the bathroom where a swan swims in the tub and fireworks boom outside on the East River. “Am I dead?!” Babe asks, jolting back to reality where herww family looks on as she fades in bed. Back in her dream world, Truman says promises to wait until she’s ready to go. After her estranged daughter arrives by her bedside, he tells her to enjoy the fireworks, giving her permission to pass in both worlds.

In reality, when Truman learns of Babe’s death, he races to write a moving eulogy he delivers to C.Z. in the discomfort of his living room. He tearfully trembles at his desk, and the next time we see him he’s blackout drunk on a talk show, then wakes up in rehab by John’s side. Next thing we know, Truman’s shivering in bed, cradled by Joanne Carson (Molly Ringwald). As he slips in and out of consciousness, it’s revealed he went to California to dry out and write, but nearly drowned in the pool. As he fades further, Babe appears by his side to care for him, and the two pick up right where they left off. After recalling a time when he promised he’d never write about her, Babe tells Truman,”People say things, so be it. Things get said and then forgotten. That’s life. Most of the time there’s no malice. Just life.” We watch them briefly frolic on a beach, then Babe closes his eyes and he speaks his final words: “Beautiful Babe.”

We’ll never know the true inner monologues of Babe Paley and Truman Capote, or their final thoughts before death, but FEUD uses the heavily imagined scenes to stress the weight of their fractured friendship, the power of forgiveness, and the enduring love they always felt for one another. We likely won’t be dressed in formalwear watching a swan swim and fireworks flash in our final hours, but an undeniable sense of comfort comes from the interpretation — a sweet satisfaction in a simple, yet extravagant ending.

Though incredibly sad, the unique take on death makes the unknown seem significantly more hopeful. The idea that your final moments could be spent putting the past into perfect perspective; internally gaining the closure you crave most in life feels ideal. As Babe learned, however, you can’t own perfection. FEUD‘s dream sequences and last-second rekindling also serve as crucial reminders to seek out life’s beauty — those small fragments of light, or grand pursuits of peace — before its too late.

The finale FEUD: Capote Vs. The Swans premieres Wednesday, March 13 on FX with next-day streaming on Hulu.